My 2 & 1/2 Years with McElroy Truck Lines, Inc.

Yeah Man,

You know where the yard is. Friggin SEARS Service Center is still there, as is all the traffic coming off 264. Apparently, things have CHANGED my Brother, because from what they tell me, Bluelinx doesn't tarp CRAP if it is sunny. If it is raining, they want us to tarp that MDF "particle board" stuff, but otherwise, it is just - strap and un-strap all day long.

Supposedly I am the first "new" DRIVER they have hired there in 2 years. I am already having an impact, but I will detail that later. God Bless!

 

...the Manager doesn't really want us to have to tarp at all, because as far as he is concerned, tarping takes "time", and he wants us to have enough time to make all of the deliveries scheduled for that day.

Now as far as being "harder" than McElroy, I would still have to say yes, and here is why - Most days with McElroy I would deliver first load, so that would be ONE untarp/unstrap session, then I would pick up ONE load to deliver somewhere for the next day, so that would be the SECOND strap/tarp session. So I guess what I am saying is, rarely would you have to tarp or untarp more than twice in any given day and most of the hours "working" were spent driving the truck 200 to 500 miles towards consignee. No matter how hot or how cold or how wet and rainy it was outside, you could always climb back into your truck, change clothes if you needed to, set the heat or air conditioning to your confort level, and then just crank up the stereo and CRUISE on down the highway.

Now with Bluelinx, they put so many stops on you, that it seems I spend more hours OUTSIDE of the truck unstrapping/re-strapping than I do actually DRIVING the truck. If it is raining and you must tarp, then you have to deal with that whole peel the tarp back deal at each and every stop.

Of course, I think it will be far more enjoyable once I am finally on my own. They had to take my friggin tractor back to the shop so now they are saying it will be Tuesday before I can be alone. The guy they have me driving with has no radio in his cab, so I am forced to listen to his non-stop comments/complaints about everything all #### day. Also, this guy wants to jump up on top of the load at every stop and "help" the forklift drivers pull their freight off. At one stop, I made the mistake of trying to help him lift a section of LVL and he dropped the #### thing on my hand. So I told him that I really don't care what he thinks he needs to do to get the job done, but I am a DRIVER not a "lumper". As far as I am concerned, if a forklift put the freight ON to the truck, then a forklift can take the freight OFF of the truck. We'll see how that whole deal plays out once I start making deliveries solo.

Now as far as me making an "impact" so far, apparently this other driver had been complaing to Management for 2 years about the other branch driver dropping his trailer too close to the bay door, which makes it extremely difficult to drop a trailer "inside the house" because you are then required to do a blind side serpintine back. So the Manager watched me G.O.A.L. about five times the first time I was getting her in, and when I went inside to get the paperwork for second run he starts making comments about "how come you drivers take so long to back the trailers into the house?". So I explained to him that driver two drops his outside trailer too close to the bay door and that apparently "nobody" is able to fix the problem at the branch. Well, next day I come in and learn that the Manager had not only forced driver 2 to hook back up to his trailer and move it over five feet, but he had also had the warehouse staff spray paint a line on the drive and he told driver 2 that if he dropped the trailer off of that line ever again that he would be written up LOL!

So the moral of the story is, 2 years of crap was solved by me with one conversation put "correctly" to Management hehehe. So, as I say, things should become easier for me as time goes by

 

...17 drops is BRUTAL. I've only been out on deliveries with them for about 8 working days, but so far, I think the most drops I've seen has been 13. As far as customer's complaining, apparently Bluelinx's policy is "don't argue with the customer". So if customer refuses something we just say "ok" and bring it back. If customer wants to note "damage", we just say "ok" and keep on trucking. That part is pretty cool.